Construction of street signs



June 9, 1953 M. M. SAUL CONSTRUCTION OF STREET SIGNS Filed Jan. 17, 1951 0 4 m. m. w I 0 3 Patented June 9, 1953 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

W invention relates to improvements in signs and like devices.

My invention relates more particularly to improvements in the mechanical construction of signs and especially signs exposed to various types of weather and atmosphere conditions. Street signs, direction signs at factory sites, bus sta tions, airports, outdoor sports stadia, and other places, made of glass, metal or other substances, soon become gray and indistinct due to accumulation of dust, dirt and other sediment. The only way to clean the same is to take all the cleaning equipment to each sign location and then and there proceed to scrub, scour and otherwise attempt to brighten the sign by cleaning. This often compels doing this work high up on ladders or other comparatively uncomfortable or inaccessible place.

My invention contemplates the provision of an improved construction of sign wherein a background such as a brilliantly colored panel may be employed, the sign itself being in the form of a stencil placed over the background so that the cut-outs in the stencil will permit the brilliancy of the panel or background to be seen therethrough.

My invention further contemplates the provision of this panel or background as a removable member which is capable of being inserted or removed from a frame, the frame being generally constructed of a pair of the stencil members placed in a spaced condition back to back so that the panel may be inserted between the same, whereby one panel will serve to function with the indicia on both sides of the same.

The principal object of the present invention is to provide an improved construction of street or other sign that is easily and simply made and easily and simply cleaned.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a sign structure of the type described which may include a frame formed from a pair of spaced stencils capable of receiving a panel therebetween, whereby the indicia on both sides of the stencil will be visible whenever the panel is in place.

A further object of the present invention is to make a device of the type described with a removable panel so that in attempting to clean a series of signs such as street signs, for example, the attendant may go from sign to sign and remove the di-rty panels, replacing the same with clean ones, take the dirty panels to the shop, clean and renovate the same, and then replace and renew the substitutes when desired.

A further object of the present invention is to provide the combination with a plurality of signs for different streets or different indicia of abackground panel capable of cooperating with any one of the same and capable of free substi Fig. 1 is a front view of a street sign of the usual type found upon most city streets, the sign holding bracket supporting a street sign construction according to my invention;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation of the street sign in the position it is being supported upon the post and bracket as shown in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a cross-sectional view therethrough taken generally on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a front elevational view of the frame used in the sign shown in Fig. 1; the panel being removed therefrom;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the frame with the panel in place therein;

Fig. 6 is a front perspective view of the panel which I employ as a background for both sides.

of the sign; and

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary sectional view showing the manner in which the background panel is held in position in the sign, the View being taken generally on the line '!7 of Fig. 1.

In the embodiment of the invention which I have chosen to illustrate and describe the same, in Fig. 1, I have shown a typical street sign which may include a base I0 and a post l2 provided at its upper end with a sign supporting bracket I l. The bracket I4 may, in the embodiment shown in the application, support a sign assembly It by means of a pair of bolt members l8 which pass through suitable flanges in the bracket l4 and supporting openings 20 in the sign assembly I6.

The sign assembly It may include a pair of similarly shaped stencil members 22 and 24 spaced apart and separated by means of a U- shaped spacer member 26 which extends across one end of the same adjacent the two edges 23 and 30, but provides an opening 32 at the right end of the sign frame (see Fig. 4), to receive a background panel member 36.

The background panel 36 is adapted to be slid into the space provided between the two stencil members 22 and 24 by the spacer 26, the panel having a right-angle flange or ledge 38 which fits against the right-hand edge 40 of the sign assembly in the position shown in Fig. 1. In order to more or less effectively lock the panel in position, it is provided with a pair of bumps 42 raised upon the surface thereof, adapted to seat in the support openings 44 similar to the openings '20 at the opposite end of the sign assembly.

From the above it can be seen that the sign assembly may be attached either at its right or left end t'o' the bracket I4, the fastening openings permitting its attachment either tothe right or the left side of a post depending upon the location of the direction sign. This is possible by reason of the fact that the stencil members 27. and 24 and the U-shaped spacer may be assembled with the bolts [8 passing through the. pairs of openings 2t or M dependingupon whether the sign is desired on the right or the left of the support post l2. In the latter case the U'-shaped spaced 26 is reversed.

The stencilmembers 22 and 24 shown on. the drawings both-have the word Mich.igan die cut in the same, the stencil member 22 having the name reading from the left to the right on. the drawing, as seen inFig. 4,.and the stencil member 24 having the name reading from the right to theleft. Thus by looking at the sign from either side, the background 36, which may be either highly polished. upon both sides, be constructed of a luminous material, or. be painted if desired, acts as a background for the indicia cut in the stencil uponeither side of the. frame.

While in the disclosure herein set forth I. have shown the stencil as using the same word Michigan upon both sides so that the stencil members 22 and 24 are actually identical, it will be obvious that with the. same background panel 36 one side of the sign could have the word Stop, for example, and the other side couldhave the word Go or any other desirable combination, the point being made that the indicia upon the sign assembly need not be the same on both sides.

My invention further contemplatesthe use of different colored background panels 36} For example, in a city, the east streets may all have background panels that are a luminousblue, the. west streets a panel. that is green, northbound red, and south purple, or any preferable or desirable color arrangement sothat. persons in the city will know from the color of. the. street signs. generally what section ofthe. city they are in. It is also contemplated that. for different areas in factory zones or other places the specific color of the panel may indicate a certain area or district which will be known to the persons using the same.

From the above and foregoing description it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that a highly practical construction of street or other type of sign has been provided. By the use of the background panel and standard sign frames it-will beob'vioustthat whenit' is'd'esired to clean or brighten the signs of'azr entire city, it can be done in a minimum of time by simply driving around and replacing soiled or dirty background panels with= fresh ones; all the dirty panels can then be taken to the repair shop for cleaning and polishing'whil'e the clean supply is in position.

I contemplate that. changes and modifications may be made in the exact details shown and I do. not wish to be limited in any particular; rather what I desire to secure and protect by Letters Patent of theUnited States is:

A street sign comprising an elongated U -shaped frame, apair of co-extensive stencil plates, one on each side of said. frame, said frame and said stencil plates having a pair of aligned bolt holes positioned along one narrow edge of said stencil plates and the short leg of said U-shaped frame, a bracket, a pair of bolts on said bracket for attachment to said frame and stencil plates through said aligned bolt holes, a back plate for removable endwise insertion into said frame between said stencilplates, said stencil plates having a seccnd pair of aligned'bolt holes positioned along the other narrow edge of the same, said back plate having raiseddetents thereon for engagement with said second pair of bolt holes for holding said back platein place, said two sets of holes being of the same size and similarly lo cated at the ends of said stencil plates so that the samemay optionally be assembled with said U-shapedframe to have its open end facing either narrow end. of said stencil plates.

MAURICE M. SAUL.

References Cited inthe file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 715,766 Dreman Dec. 16, 1902 2,058,168 Merk Oct. 20, 1936 2,534,163 Enghauser Dec. 12, 1950 2,535,265 Caffrey Dec. 26, 1950 2,551,831 Eaves May 8, 1951 

